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AFM Magazine


The Speed Report: Playing Fast Transition Speed is Essential

by: Dale Baskett
Football Speed Specialist
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Playing fast means winning games. Coaches in football love speed. The question is twofold: how do we develop it and what kind of speed works? Football requires what I term transition speed. Whenever an athlete has a change of velocity or changes the direction of any movement, a transition must occur. When this transition happens it may cause a physiological change. It will absolutely change the mechanical function of limb cycle and body positioning to force relationship. As athletes run, motor patterns are being programmed, motor patterns can be reorganized for positive results by using correct drill processing. It is natural for limb speed to slow down during transition phases. This alters the velocity prior to the initial change. When momentum is displaced during intense speed activity, the arms instantly react as a balancing device. This usually means the arms widen away from the torso, further from the center of our body mass. It’s an instinctive action; the arms try to control the balance of the weight distribution. Therefore a slowing of the arm rotation takes place deceling the limb frequently.

How Do You Design Your Football Speed?

If you work strictly on linear speed development for the 40-yard dash, your athletes will not be motor skill prepared to control fast and effective transitions. As discussed in previous articles, the heralded 40 time is a benchmark that influences time spent on sprint speed. The 40 test doesn’t equate to playing fast due to movement demands that football requires. Linear sprint speed and movement transitions when executed properly deliver tremendous movement effectiveness. Linear speed is part of the speed equation needed for football speed. Linear speed is of lesser importance than transition speed due to the type of movement football requires. To design your program properly, you need to work on both linear and athletic movement skills. However, your greater benefit will come from time spent perfecting athletic movement control which enhances transition speed. I’ve included a few useful drills to help develop transition skills (See Diagrams 1-6).

Diagram 1: Back Pedal to Angle Break Drill (Eyes level, arm rotation non-stop on breaks)

Diagram 2: Lateral Progression (Activate arm rotation faster through each zone)

Diagram 3: Burst Sprint-Decel Drill (Activate arm on burst, maintain line position deceling)

Coaches Responsibility for Speed

Not every football coach needs to be a speed guru and most don’t desire such. The responsibility for football speed enhancement requires that you have a planned method. Researching speed coaches online will give you information that is very similar. My suggestion is to research the main principles of biomechanics for human movement first. Then, look at the methods out there and see if they match up with correct biomechanical application. Ask the why, what and how questions when looking at any drills you see. Verbalizing something doesn’t make it accurate. The basic foundation of movement principles are fundamental. Leg, torso, head in alignment during force application, arm/leg synchronization, upper and lower limb rotation must all be evenly balanced. Footstrike is downward to surface and lands on the ball of the foot. These three fundamentals must be together through every full front-to-back limb cycle; then your athletes will be sound during all movement transitions.

Diagram 4: Lateral Accel-Decel Drill (100% lateral speed, slow arms to decel)

Diagram 5: Multi-movement Transition Drill (Keep eyes level, arms non-stop)

Diagram 6: Sprint-Lateral-Shuffle Drill (Eyes level on all changes of direction)

Speed Kills - Let’s Be Specific

What I’m referring to is the ability to move laterally fast, back pedal fast, accelerate fast, decelerate, then accelerate fast again, move left or right fast, change angles abruptly and never lose momentum. The major key for controlling velocity through these changes is never stopping the arm frequency and keeping the elbows in at all times, (what I refer to as cyclic balance). IN ADDITION, ONE MUST KEEP EYE LEVEL STRAIGHT. This helps control the alignment positioning of the leg, torso and head.

Let’s Sum It Up

The key to ‘playing fast’ is body control development. The more mechanically confident your players are the more they’ll move with greater intensity. Remember, as humans, we are equipped with certain physical talents and gifts. Being biomechanically sound is not on the list of gifts; you must train for that. You can work hard to get stronger and faster but hard work will not produce transition speed. That requires movement skill training with sound biomechanical applications. The greatest players in the world are not 100% mechanically skilled when movement speed is in need; more often than not they’re physical specimens.





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